Surgical cast-forming material



Filed Sept. 18, 1959 INVENTOR. Nszsojvb. 64001 M 9L ATIURNEYS.

Face

3,054,399 SURGICAL CAST-FORMIN G MATERIAL Nelson D. Gaddy, 2602 W. Washington, Indianapolis, Ind. Filed Sept. 18, 1959, Ser. No. 840,939 6 Claims. (Cl. 12890) This invention relates to a surgical cast-forming material adapted for use in orthopedic surgery.

It has heretofore been the practice in orthopedic surgery to employ rigid cast structures generally comprised of strips of gauze impregnated with plaster of Paris. Casts formed in this manner have certain inherent disadvantages in that they are relatively heavy and bulky; they are relatively opaque with respect to X-rays, making it difiicult to determine whether the broken bone within the cast is knitting properly; they soften upon becoming wet; and they are extremely untidy to apply, often requiring the use of a special room. In order to overcome these inherent disadvantages in the use of plaster of Paris, the use of various types of plastic casts has been proposed. While these plastic type casts overcome certain of the disadvantages of plaster of Paris casts, they lack sufiicient moldability to permit them to be properly molded and formed about an injured member.

It is therefore the general object of my invention to provide a plastic cast-forming material which will overcome the difficulties and disadvantages attendant in the use of the cast-forming materials described above. More specifically, it is an object of my invention to provide a light-weight cast-forming material which will be easy to apply to an injured member, which will not be subject to deterioration by moisture, which can be easily molded and conformed about an injured member, and which will produce a rigid structure for supporting an injured memher.

In carrying out my invention in its preferred form, I provide an elongated strip of flexible plastic material. Integrally formed on the opposed faces of said strip are pluralities of spaced solid projections, with the projections on one of the strip faces having a height equal to or substantially greater than the height of the projections on the opposed face of the strip. The extent'of the lateral spacing between adjacent projections on each of the strip faces is at least equal to the lateral extent of each of the projections, thereby rendering the strip extremely flexible to permit said strip to be molded around an injured member. Conveniently, the projections on each of the faces of the strip are arranged in parallel offset rows, so that as the strip is Wrapped about an injured member the projections on one of the strip faces may be easily and readily interlocked between the projections on the opposed face of an adjacent strip. The several plies of my cast-forming material disposed about an injured member are cohesively bound together by subjecting the strip and projections to a solvent treatment prior to wrapping the strip around the injured member.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention. In such drawings:

FIG. 1 is a vertical section of a plastic cast-forming material embodying my invention, and taken on the line 1-1 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the invention illustrated in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the invention illustrated in FIG. 1.

As illustrated in the drawings, my plastic cast-forming material comprises an elongated strip formed from a plastic material, such as cellulose acetate or the like. The strip 10 may be of any convenient size, however, strips having a width of from about two inches to four inches and a length of about three yards to five yards have been found to have the greatest ease of application. Desirably, the strip has a thickness in the range of from about .50 millimeter to about .025 millimeter.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, a plurality of laterally spaced projections 12 are integrally formed on one of the strip faces. Conveniently, the projections 12 are formed with a circular shaped base 14, and a frustoconical end portion 16. The base section 14 of each of the projections 12 has a height in the range of from about 1 millimeter to about .5 millimeter, and the end portions 16 on said projections have a height of from about 1 millimeter to about .5 millimeter. integrally formed on the opposed face of the strip 10 in alignment with the projections 12 are a plurality of projections 18 conveniently having a circular shaped cross-section. The projections 18 have a height in the range of from about 1 millimeter to about .5 millimeter.

Each of the projections 12 and 18 has a width in the range of from about 2 millimeters to about 10 millimeters, and the distance between adjacent projections is in the range of from about 2 millimeters to about 10 millimeters. In any event, the lateral spacing between adjacent projections is at least equal to the lateral extent of the projections to provide the strip 10 with sufficient flexibility to be molded about an injured member. Thus, as a strip of my material is wrapped around an injured member, the projections 12 will be readily disposed between the projections 18 on an adjacent strip surface to form a rigid interlocking structure. The production of such an interlocking action is facilitated by arranging the projections in the offset parallel rows. As shown in FIG. 3, when a strip of my cast-forming material is wrapped about an injured member one of the projections 12 may take any of the dotted line positions with respect to one of the projections 18, whereby a substantial number of the projections 12 will be interlocked between the projections 18 on an adjacent strip surface with the ends of the projections 12 abutting the adjacent face of said adjacent strip section. In addition to providing a more rigid structure this interlocking relationship permits the projections on one strip surface to be seated between the projections on an adjacent strip surface so that a plurality of plies of my material may be wrapped around an injured member to form a cast having a minimum thickness.

In using my cast-forming material, as for example for forming a cast to be disposed about a broken arm, the broken bone is first set according to conventional medical practices. A length of my cast-forming material is then placed in a bath of a suitable solvent, for example in using cellulose acetate the strip may be soaked in a bath of ethyl alcohol. After the strip has remained in the solvent bath for a suflicient period of time to partially dissolve the surfaces of the projections 12 and 18 without destroying their configuration, the strip is removed from the bath and wrapped around the broken arm with the projections 18 disposed adjacent the arm. The projections 12 on each wrap or ply are interlocked between the projections 18 On the next adjacent ply, with the tapered ends 16 of the projections 12 abutting the adjacent surface of the adjacent strip 10. Curvature of the arm will of course prohibit the probability of all of the projections being interlocked, however, by employing my novel construction a high percentage of the projections 12 are interlocked between the projections 18 on an adjacent ply, so that the thickness of each wrap or ply will be substantially equal to the thickness of the projections 18 and one-half of the thickness of the projections 12. This produces a rigid cast structure molded to the contour of the arm and having a minimum thickness. Due to the prior solvent treatment, the abutting surfaces various plies of the strip material will be cohesively of the.

7 3 a bonded together for holding the projections in their interlocked relationship and giving the cast an overall rigidity to prevent movement of the broken bone disposed Within the extent of the cast.

I claim as my invention: I

1. A surgical cast-forming material, comprising a strip of flexible plastic-material, and a plurality of projections integrally formed on said strip and projecting outwardly from the opposed faces thereof, the lateral and longitudinal spacing between adjacent projections being at least equal to the lateral and longitudinal extent of said projections to render said strip sufliciently flexible to be wrapped about an injured member in a plurality of plies to conform thereto and to permit said projections on each ply of said strip so wrapped to be cohesively bonded to the abutting strip surfaces and cohesively interlocked with the projections on adjacent plies irrespective of the orientation of said strip surfaces to form a rigid cast structure.

2. A surgical cast-forming material as set forth in claim 1 with the addition that the projections on each of the opposed faces of the strip are arranged in offset parallel rows, whereby the projections'on one face of the strip may be readily interlocked with the projections on the adjacent face of an adjacent strip.

3. A surgical cast-forming material, comprising a strip of flexible plastic material, and a plurality of projections integrally formed on said strip and projecting outwardly from the opposed faces thereof, the projections on one of said faces having a greater height than the projections on the opposed face of the strip, the lateral and longitudinal spacing between adjacent projections being at least equal to the'lateral and longitudinal extent of said projections to render said strip 'sufliciently flexible to be wrapped about an injured member in a plurality of plies to conform thereto and to permit the projections having the greater height on each ply to be cohesively bonded to the abutting strip surfaces and cohesively interlocked between the adjacent projections of equal or lesser height on adjacent plies irrespective of the orientation of said strip surfaces to form a rigid cast structure.

4. A surgical cast-forming material as set forth in claim 3 with the addition that the ends'of the projections having the greater height are tapered; V

5. A surgical castaforming material, comprising a strip of flexible plastic material, a first set of projections having a circular cross-sectioned base and a frustoconical end integrally formed on one face of said strip, and a second set of circular cross-sectioned projections integrally formed on the opposed face of said strip, the lateral and longitudinal spacing between adjacent projections in 'each of said sets being greater than the lateral and longitudinal extent of the projections to render said strip sufiiciently flexible to be Wrapped about an injured member in a plurality of plies to conform thereto and to permit said first and second sets of projections on each ply to be cohesively bonded to the abutting strip surfaces and cohesively interlocked between the adjacent sets of said first and second sets of projections on adjacent plies to form a rigid cast structure.

6. A surgical cast-forming material as set forth in claim 5 with the addition that said second set of projections have a height of substantially one-half as large as the height of said'first set of projections, whereby said first set of projections may be interlocked between an adjacent set of said second set of projections.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,243,230 Smith t. ..c Oct. 16, 1917 2,103,942 Gillin Dec. 28, 1937 2,373,802 Anderson Apr. 17, 1945 2,499,898 Anderson Mar. 7, 1950 

